As the new year begins, it is a good time to take stock of where everyone in baseball stands, and Sporting News is doing that by having a look at the best and worst contracts that each team has on the books heading into the new season. Today, it's the American League.

One caveat: all of the contracts mentioned are either deals signed by free agents, or multi-year contracts in which arbitration years have been settled in advance. This means that, although Mike Trout is arguably the best player in baseball and earns close to the league minimum, he is not eligible for consideration, nor are any young players in a similar situation.

All contract figures represent years and dollars remaining, not the overall value of the deals. WAR figures are from baseball-reference.com.